Today, I discovered laundry service in Israel. I couldn't find a coin laundromat, but I found a laundry shop where they do your laundry, fold your clothes and pickup/deliver them to your house. And it's not much more expensive than doing it yourself. I mean, what more could I ask for!!
Oh, and I found the neighbourhood seamstress shop (it's the size of a closet - see pic below) who can hem my pants.
Perfect, the seamstress will be tomorrow's day trip along with the hunt for a print/copy place. Nobody seems to know where I can print documents around here.I should also mention that Sundays in Israel are equivalent to Mondays everywhere else in the world. See, Sunday is Day 1 of creation, God began working on creating the world on Sunday, so this is why Israelis start their work week on Sundays. For me, it's kinda weird 'cause I work on Toronto time, which is another reason why I'm so much more productive here, it really feels like I need to be working on Sundays... everyone else is doing it.
It's also neat to be in a place that revolves around my holidays. Every Friday afternoon, the city pretty much shuts down. Most people either work a half day on Friday or not at all. This leaves me plenty of time to get to, or prepare for shabat dinner with my family or friends. It's really nice, actually. Friday really feels like a special day here. Most shops, restaurants and public transportation close by 4pm and don't reopen until sun down on Saturday. So there's definitely a special vibe on the streets. This is also the first time in a while that I've had 1 free day a week to relax. So this is what it's like to be normal! I like, very much. I declare Saturday my day of rest, I shall not do work on Saturdays!
Tuesday December 9, 2008
My mission today is to find a scanner (I finally found a place where I could print stuff, yesterday) and to buy a gift for my cousin's brita (that's like a bris - circumcision - but for a girl.. and nothing gets cut off, so essentially it's a party welcoming the new born into the world). So I went to Nachlat Binyamin - this is the artists' market, which is right next to the shuk.. perfect 'cause I can pick up my favourite bread and chumus on my way home. Anyway, the artists' market is really cool, it's kind of like the one of a kind show in Toronto, but it happens every Tuesday and Friday. Artists set up booths with their work, from jewelry to photography to costumes to pottery to kaleidoscopes.
I bought some great stuff for gifts and found one booth that was setup especially for me, I'm sure of it. It was an artist who creates these cool cubes made of different wooden shapes that form into various designs. So the artist had a few out to try and so I sat down and began my first task which was to build a pyramid.
Needless to say, I was there with two other geeks for two hours having a blast figuring out how to build different shapes.
The girl on the left was trying to cheat by stealing my pieces...
It started to rain, but the three nerds persisted on. It was great! Finally, the vendor was closing shop, 'cause nobody likes to work around here when it rains, I bought the master game and continued on with my day. I found a cafe, had some lunch and planned on doing some work, but then it started raining really hard. Everyone ran inside, but I stayed out under the restaurant's awning as it seemed that my spot was the only dry one. I was soon joined by another man who was also escaping the rain. He sat down and treated me to a cup of coffee and a great conversation while we watched the chaos that ensued around us from the terrential rains.
He was Dutch living here for 15 years working on his 3rd career as a photographer. Interesting fellow.
When the rain stopped we said goodbye and I continued to my favourite place, the shuk. I went back to pick up my favourite bread - a thinly sliced multi-grain dark rye bread with a hint of what I think is cumin... delicious, and of course the homemade chumus, some more persimmons and other fruit & vegetables, said hello to the owner of the dead sea products booth, heard the same joke about my earring from the fruit stand man and got a nice smile and hello from the olives man. My first time at the shuk, the olives man seemed like a very mean and angry man, but today I learned that it's just his tough exterior front. That's good, because his olives are the bomb!
I walked home from the shuk and bumped into my new friend Sam at the cafe near my house. He invited me for a coffee and we had a great chat. At this point, I completely forgot about my scanning mission and it turned out that Sam has a scanner at home and so he scanned my document and emailed it to me. I tell ya' the people upstairs were watching over me today.
Missions accomplished. Another productive day!
Oh, but Samba was canceled, due to rain. Damn it!
Wed. Dec 10, 2008
I left my map of Tel Aviv at my cousin's house, so I attempted to get around without it. Well... that was not working, let me tell ya, the streets in this city wind and turn in every which direction, I still can't find my bearings here. She's bringing the map back to me today, phew!
I am at the beach today doing some work.
It's a bit chili, but so beautiful and calm. Not many people are here and only the surfers are in the water. I was thinking today that it's so refreshing to live near a beach. On my walk here from my house, I saw the water in the distance and I immediately felt such excitement come over me and I just couldn't wait to get close to the water. I can't find the words for how I feel when I'm near this sea. I put my feet in the water today, it was still warm, which is so nice. And let's face it, there's no better food to have on the beach than chumus, tachina and pita, so I indulged... again :-)
The sun is coming down and it's spectacular.
That's not a photo of me, but she's nice...
Friday Dec 12, 2008
Another eventful day, wow! I went to my cousin's brita and saw lots of my family and friends from childhood, some who I was seeing for the first time in years. There's quite a few of us, which is so refreshing, 'cause I don't have much family in Canada. It was really nice to see that everyone is still very close. The brita was on a farm about an hour from Tel Aviv. The drive there was stunning, so many brilliant colours in the landscape - pinks, purples, yellows and oranges, I was just in awe. The celebrations were very informal, which is common to most Israeli functions. It was outdoors near a beautiful farm house, the food was served in buffet style with different bbq meats and vegetables, delicious breads, spreads, salads, rice, potatoes and of course chumus & tahina. Really good food... generally the food in Israel has been fantastic!
My cousin's husband's brother was there and he came over to my table, sat next to me, and began telling me stories about my father. He had known my father since they were 26 years old, back in Lithuania. When he first saw me today, he knew immediately that I was my father's daughter, he is the first person to tell me that I bare some resemblance to him. He told me that my father was an extraordinary man who could make things happen like no one he had ever met before. He said that he was a man with no fear. Always so full of life, and truly one of a kind. The man had tears in his eyes when he spoke of my father and he brought tears to mine. I could feel the love he felt for my dad and how much he missed him. It made me realize that my family has a very long history in this country that I know very little about. There are so many people here that know my parents very intimately and have so many stories to share. I would really like to hear them.
..... I really miss my dad today.
I got home and remembered that my Samba pimp, Tomer, told me about a pagode group that was playing at the Yafo (city of Jaffa) harbour tonight, so I decided to go, besides I could really use the walk, as it was an emotional afternoon for me. It's a pretty long walk to the Yafo harbour from my house, but it's absolutely stunning. I walked through the shuk which was really odd, as it was closing down and there was no one there except for vendors closing shop, and the street was filled with garbage, scrap food and cardboard boxes, it was really gross! All the vendors toss their leftovers and garbage on the street and a tractor comes through and sweeps it all away. I continued to the shore and walked along the boardwalk to Yafo, which was such a beautiful walk. I tell ya, this country is blessed with some stunning scenery. The water still continues to take my breath away each time I'm near it. It was dark and all one could see were the waves and rocks. As I got closer to Yafo, I could here the Islamic call to prayer in the background. Wow! really powerful, you can't help but feel how sacred it is. The architecture in Yafo is also really different. The port looks like an old brick castle made of white stone. You get a strong sense of an old city. I finally reached my destination which was on the veranda of a beautiful white stone building on the harbour. I watched the pagode group play their first set. They were a trio - singer, cavaquinho/guitar, and pandeiro. They were all very good (especially the singer) and they sounded like real Brasilians. They also had a tamborim, triangle, shaker and rebolo there, but they only played the rebolo (bass drum) on one song, I guess they didn't have enough players. I really felt the rebolo missing in the music, I mean, it is pagode, afterall. They played really great songs, a lot of older Brasilian music, Chico Buarque (my favourite), forro, frevo, etc. On their first break, I approached the singer and it turns out that they are all from Sao Paulo, and they all moved to Israel just over a year ago. I told him that I played and he invited me to join them. He introduced me to the other two band members and I played rebolo for the next two sets with them. It was so great for me, I got the release that I needed. The crowd was dancing and singing along and the vibe was really good. When we were done, they invited me to join them every friday and on any other gigs that they have booked. Yay!!! That really made my day.
Hey Matt... I met my first real Brisraelis!!! Another mission accomplished :-)
woo hoo! brisraelis!
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